Pasta with Carrot Top Pesto and Squash
Choose vibrant, fresh carrot tops, they add a nutty, earthy flavor to the pesto. If you can't find fresh carrot tops, replace them with more basil. Refrigerate leftover pesto for another meal, it will last about a week when covered with a thin layer of olive oil. Apple Hill grows the tastiest zephyr squash, yellow summer squash with one green end, but any zucchini type squash will be as good here. If you haven't yet discovered ZENB gluten-free pasta, I encourage you to order some right away. It's so similar to traditional semolina pasta, I doubt anyone will guess that it's gluten free.
Ingredients
Carrot Top Pesto
- 1 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
- ⅔ cup (lightly packed) fresh carrot tops (or basil leaves)
- ¼ cup walnuts
- 1 small shallot, chopped
- ¼ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- Freshly ground black pepper
Pasta
- 1½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ large onion, chopped
- 1 pound summer squash such as zephyr, yellow or zucchini, trimmed, halved lengthwise, sliced into half rounds
- Coarse kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 8 ounces gluten-free rotini or other short pasta, especial ZENB
- ⅓ cup pesto
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
Instructions
Carrot Top Pesto
- Combine the basil, carrot tops, walnuts, shallot and ¼ teaspoon salt in a food processor. Process until everything is very finely chopped. With the machine running, gradually add the oil. Add the Parmesan and lemon juice and process just to blend. Season generously with black pepper and salt to taste. (Can be prepared up to 5 days ahead. Transfer to a small container, pour oil over to cover, then cover and refrigerate.)
Pasta
- Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until beginning to softer, about 4 minutes. Add the squash slices and sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Sauté until the squash softens, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the red pepper flakes and stir.
- Meanwhile, add the pasta to a large pot of boiling salted water and stir. Return the water to a boil and cook until the pasta is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally. I start checking 2 minutes before the time suggested on the package. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, and then drain the pasta.
- Add the pasta to the skillet with the squash. Add ⅓ cup of the pesto and stir to coat. Add ½ cup of the Parmesan. Add enough pasta cooking liquid to loosen the texture. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve the pasta, offering more cheese to sprinkle on top.